


new you, new me

by onlyeverthus



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Post-Episode: s01e14 The Christmas Invasion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 19:25:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9006874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyeverthus/pseuds/onlyeverthus
Summary: She's afraid that he doesn't want her anymore.





	

  


 

 

She's watching from the window of the flat when he emerges from the TARDIS, adjusting his coat around his slender frame.

She's not seen much of him over the past couple of days. He's been hidden away inside the TARDIS, telling her she ought to spend some time with her mother before they leave. So she has been, shopping and eating and watching telly, all of those human things that she's come to find completely dull. She longs to be back amongst the stars but there's a worry gnawing at her and so when he sets off she grabs her coat and hurries from the flat. She follows him, anxious to see where he'll end up.

She loses him at a crosswalk, a stream of late night traffic separating them, and she watches the top of his head bob along until he disappears. The traffic finally clears and she dashes across the road in the direction he'd gone, afraid she might have lost him for good.

After a few minutes of walking she enters a park and sees him silhouetted on a bench, face turned up towards the sky, and she quietly approaches him. He looks over at her as she steps around the bench and his smile is soft in the glow of the fairy lights still strung in the trees.

"How'd you know I was here?" he says, shifting over and patting the seat beside him.

"I sort of... followed you," she replies, grinning sheepishly as she sits down.

"Thought I heard footsteps." He grins at her and nudges her gently with his arm. "What'd you do all day?"

"Shopping with mum." Her fingers toy with the edge of her jacket as she glances up at him. "How's the ship?"

"Ready and waiting. I think she's getting antsy, truth be told, she's not used to staying in one place for so long."

His eyes drift back up to the sky and she studies his profile. Everything about him is so different and yet he's somehow the same man. This new body is thinner, smaller in some strange way, but he seems to take up even more space than before, his presence feels bigger, the energy concealed just below the surface is wilder. She can almost feel electricity jumping from his body and filling the air around them, wonders if she'll be shocked if she touches his skin.

"Have you packed?" he asks, looking back down at her.

She surprises herself by letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding and he stares at her quizzically.

"You still want me then?" she asks.

"'Course I do. Why would you think I didn't?"

"You've just been a bit distant since Christmas." She looks down at her hands, absently picking at her nails. "I thought maybe you changed your mind."

"I'll always want you with me," he replies, staring intently at her. She looks back up at him and recognizes something in his eyes, something inside of her own heart: the wish for forever, the dream of the two of them together in the TARDIS, visiting new planets and meeting new civilizations and all of it with her hand firmly enclosed in his. She feels herself growing absurdly emotional and she looks away for a moment, taking a breath.

"There's something different," he says abruptly and she presses a hand to her cheek before looking back up at him. He stares at her a moment before frowning slightly. "Did you cut your hair?"

She nods, grinning a little shyly. "New you... new me." She raises her eyebrows hopefully. "D'you like it?"

He raises a hand to finger the ends of her hair which just touch her shoulders and a slow smile crosses his face.

"I love it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he says, nodding, and she giggles, relieved.

She scoots closer to him and rests her head on his shoulder, joining him in stargazing. Her hand finds his and she takes it, weaving her fingers through his. The shape of his palm is different and his fingers are longer but her hand still seems to fit perfectly in his cool grip. She smiles as he lightly rubs her skin with his thumb, a gesture perfect in its familiarity.

White flakes begin to fall from the sky and she laughs, hardly daring to believe it.

"Is this snow? Actual proper snow?" she asks, holding up her free hand to catch a few small flakes.

"I think it is. A couple days late, but who's counting?"

They sit and watch the snow fall for a little while until she begins to shiver and they stand, heading hand-in-hand back towards the estate. He sees her to the door of her flat and brushes the snow from her hair and shoulders. He's quite close now, his fingers lingering along the lines of her face, and she feels her heart begin to race as she takes a breath. He smells different now, she realizes, somehow cool and vaguely spicy where before he had been warm and earthy, and underneath all of that the everlasting aroma of time and space, of stars spread at his feet and suspended above his head, waiting for him to pluck them out of the sky.

His breath is warm on her skin, his hands resting lightly on her shoulders, and she longs to know what he's thinking, wants to ask him but is afraid to. Finally he sighs and his lips are feather light on her forehead before he turns and walks down the hallway, heading back to the TARDIS.

She watches him go, wishing she could follow him, but knowing she ought to spend this last night with her mother. She shares a late night cup of tea with Jackie and then disappears into her bedroom to check her bag (which has been packed since Christmas night) one last time before she goes to bed.

 

He grins broadly when she enters the TARDIS the next morning and she dashes eagerly to his side, asking where they're going.

"Farther than we've ever gone before," he replies and she smiles, feeling as though she may burst from sheer joy as he flips the lever and they hurtle off into the Vortex, closer now to forever than they ever have been.  



End file.
